DEFICIT SMALLER THAN PREDICTED ANDREW CLAIMS 3RD INSURER HOUSING BUILDERS BACK TAX BILL CORNING REPORTS FLAT EARNINGS.(Business)

Byline: Washington Post Associated Press Washington Post Associated Press

The federal budget deficit for fiscal year 1992, which ended Sept. 30, totaled about $290 billion, a record amount but far short of the $400 billion estimated last January by the Bush administration, according to budget experts.

Final spending and revenue figures for the fiscal year will not be published by the Treasury Department until later this month, but analysts who track the daily flow of cash into and out of the Treasury, including those at the Congressional Budget Office, said the final number will be around $290 billion.

"That is, shall we say, a big change from January and even significantly below where experts were estimating in July and August," CBO Director Robert D. Reischauer …